THE BIG SLEEP by Raymond Chandler | Noir Nights #1

[@grantbarnes3678]

Just revisited this two days ago, and now my favorite reviewer pops up with this

[@iWizard]

Awesome! How'd you like it? :)

[@carlosbranca8080]

From Chandler i haven't read The Big Sleep yet but read Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye and loved them. Thanks to this video i am going to look for TBS soon. I read Hammett's Red Harvest last year and couldn't stop reading until it was finished. Non-stop action and a very cool story. Great video!

[@iWizard]

Wow, so I'm definitely going to have to dive into Chandler's other books then. I think the next one I do of his will be The Long Goodbye. With Hammett, should I start with Red Harvest or Maltese Falcon?

[@iSamwise]

Thanks for the review. I’ve meant to read this for years! I’m a big fan of Andrew Klavan’s hard boiled crime novels (His Weiss and Bishop trilogy starting with Dynamite Road is brilliant) and he often references this as a formative book to him. There’s just something about that old noir style that I love so much. I also appreciate the analysis you brought to the characters in the story too.

[@iWizard]

Wait... are you the Sam who was recently reading my manuscript? You didn't tell me you had a KZbin channel! Also, I meant to tell you-you probably shouldn't do any more on it because we hired an editor who's really helping us clean it up and cut out a lot of the fat. We've got a lot of work to do and we're going back to the drawing board. :)

[@iSamwise]

@@iWizard Haha well yes. It’s a slow work in progress, but I suppose the undying Klavan love gave me away. 🤣 Sounds good on the editing question! I would love to read more of it when you guys have all that worked out again. Props to you for submitting to the intense scrutiny of AP!

[@Beech27]

There’s a famous old story that, when adapting the novel to the screen, Chandler was asked to clarify several plot points, whom killed whom, etc., and he couldn’t do it and was totally unbothered by this ignorance. So yeah, it’s messy, and Chandler never really gets good at plotting. But he’s *so good* at everything else that it almost doesn’t matter to me.

[@iWizard]

When I closed the book, this is how I felt. I loved the dialogue, the mood and tone, the character descriptions, and the general premise... just not the plot execution. Totally worth reading.

[@someokiedude9549]

Sorry I'm a bit late here, but glad to see you dipping your toes into the noir genre. It is one I love dearly. I prefer more than the prim and proper English mysteries of someone like Agatha Christie (though I like some of the books of hers that I've read.) Noir is nasty, violent, sexy, and sometimes scary. It's how crime oughta be, and often is as far as I'm concerned. I am a bit embarrassed to admit I haven't read a lot of the classic noir authors like Chandler or Hammett, though I hope to rectify those sooner or later. Noir has had an odd reputation over the years, not quite genre but not quite literary either. I actually hope to make a video of my own at some point and discuss the genre. Anyway, I don't want to this to get too long. Great video as always. I have some recommendations if you're interested in a pointer. Dennis Lehane: I know you already saw my video about him, so I won't say much more. James Ellroy: LA Confidential Graham Greene: Brighton Rock Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue Dress SA Cosby: Razorblade Tears, Blacktop Wasteland, My Darkest Prayer Richard Stark's Parker books Ed Brubaker: Criminal, The Fade Out, Kill or Be Killed Frank Miller: Batman: Year One, Sin City (The Hard Goodbye and That Yellow Bastard particularly, the rest are take or leave.)

[@iWizard]

Yes, I'm like you on that one. I have tended in the past to prefer to more prim and proper Agatha Christie type mysteries. Also, this is a super helpful list. I'll definitely be prioritizing Ellroy, Lehane, Mosley, and Hammett moving forward. The Kindle County series by Scott Turow feels VERY noir, even though it's sort of legal fiction / police procedural / thriller. You should check out the first book in that series Presumed Innocent. It was made into a film with Harrison Ford and was just recently turned into an Apple series with Jake Gyllenhall (no clue how to spell that). The second book, Burden of Proof, is fantastic, too. That's all I've read of the series, though. Top notch stuff. I would call Turow one of the few literary thriller writers. Thanks for watching Britton!

[@MacScarfield]

I have not yet read this novel, but the film adaptation with Humphrey Bogard & Lauren Bacall is very cool! There is definitely a link between Noir/Hard boiled and Cyberpunk: The use of slang, colorful characters, institutional corruption and the rapid introduction (both the possibilities and fears) of new technologies and social trends (that in hindsight, we often take for granted today). The PTSD of WW1 & WW2 for Noir/Hard-boiled with that of the Cold War (or a WW3 or WW4) in Cyberpunk. I have Dashiell Hammett’s “Red Harvest” (which would inspire Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai Film “Yujimbo” and Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western “For a Fistfull of Dollar”) and James Elroy’s Neo-Noir “LA Confidential” (Love the film adaptation!) on my TBR, so I am looking forward to hear your thoughts on those novels on “Noir Nights”!

[@iWizard]

Thanks for watching! I had no idea that Red Harvest was the inspiration for Yujimbo or A Fistful of Dollars, though I definitely detected early noir's influence on cyberpunk. I may have to do LA Confidential for my next episode of Noir Nights. :)

[@MichaelRSchultheiss]

Excellent review! Have you read any of the Mike Hammer books, by Mickey Spillane?

[@iWizard]

Thanks very much! No, I haven't read any of the Mike Hammer books, and I've not yet had the pleasure of reading Mickey Spillane. I'm assuming you've read some of them? Are they better, in your opinion, than chandler? Cheers!

[@MichaelRSchultheiss]

@@iWizard I have read the first one, "I, the Jury," and I'd say that one is comparable to The Big Sleep, which I've started but not yet finished. Also, thanks to Josh of Red Fury Books I've discovered the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly, and I'm really enjoying those. Cheers!

[@nightlogic1]

Hardboiled detective novels are virgin territory for me so thank you for putting it on my radar. I think I’ll pass on “The Big Sleep” based on your review and instead go for “The Maltese Falcon” based on more positive reviews. By the way, you mentioned liking stories about rare books. I recently read “The Club Dumas” by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and it definitely qualifies. Apparently it was adapted into the film “The Ninth Gate” starring Jonny Depp (haven’t seen it). I enjoyed the novel well enough to recommend it…I’d say 3.5 of 5 stars. Check it out, you may be tempted.

[@rgoodwyn]

I started with Red Harvest in my hardboiled phase and it was fantastic! Highly recommend for noobs lol.

[@carlosbranca8080]

I recommend Red Harvest, i couldn't put it down. And only 200 pages. I loved Club Dumas. The Ninth Gate only tells half the story, the one with the lost chapter of The Three Musketeers is not in the movie. I love that film by Roman Polanski, have it on DVD.

[@iWizard]

Happy to put it on your radar. Yes, I would recommend steering clear of it. I really think it only gets about a 7/10 for me. The next Noir Nights episode will be a review of Maltese Falcon. :)

[@iWizard]

I'll have to read Red Harvest! Looking forward to it.

[@iWizard]

Also, I had no idea that The Ninth Gate was a book first. The Depp film is totally underrated. Really good. You should watch it. Cheers!

[@nightlogic1]

Story Soundtracks?

[@iWizard]

This is now the leading suggestion! :)

[@nightlogic1]

@@iWizard You know this is an interesting idea you have. I've never even thought to parallel literature and music. I'm mostly a sci-fi head so now I'm thinking of accompanying music to Blindsight or Perdido Street Station...lol.

[@iWizard]

@@nightlogic1 Haven't read either of those, but Blindsight is on my TBR. Hope I don't pick the wrong song!

[@nightlogic1]

@@iWizard lol